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Inside the Water Drain

In October 2017, the Chicago Tribune published The Water Drain, a multi-part series investigating water rates throughout the Chicago region.

The Tribune discovered that a profound disparity exists in what people pay for a basic life necessity – their drinking water – along income and racial lines. Residents of the poorest communities paid 31 percent more, on average, than those in the wealthiest. At times, collection tactics in poorer communities were akin to those of payday lenders, with water reconnection fees running as high as $300 or more.

What happens at a hack night?

Every week, we have a 10-15 minute presentation by a government agency, non-profit, company or group who’ve made use of open data or built a civic technology application. The goal of these presentations is to showcase the different uses and opportunities, as well as challenges and successes in the civic technology movement.

After the presentation, the format of the event is similar to that of a hackathon where breakout groups self-organize to work on civic apps, discuss policies and their implications, learn technical skills and network with a welcoming and diverse community at the intersection of technology and government.